


hide ‘n seek and disco lights (shadowy hunts and playful nights)

by inkstained_pages



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Disco, Fluff, Gen, Good Friend Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Hide and Seek, Hiding, Play Fighting, Swearing, dream smp grocery store au, i am once again stating that, i would die for ranboo, mmm grocery store au go brrrr, no beta we die like my heart watching dsmp, phil is a ceiling rat, purpled is the baddest ass to ever ass, ranboo is the best boi, this was a lot longer than i expected, tommy and tubbo are best friends pog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:55:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28819587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkstained_pages/pseuds/inkstained_pages
Summary: The store looked kind of spooky without the lights and the customers, and the soft music playing in the background.Ranboo shivered, but then realized he could use the shadows to his advantage. If they were playing hide and seek, Ranboo had a few ideas as to how he might be able to win.Or,In which the staff of the DSMP Grocery Store play hide and seek in the grocery store, Phil becomes a ceiling rat, and Ranboo is somehow way too good at this.
Relationships: Ranboo & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Comments: 33
Kudos: 575





	hide ‘n seek and disco lights (shadowy hunts and playful nights)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [DreamSMP Grocery Store AU headcannons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28393056) by [getouttamyswamp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/getouttamyswamp/pseuds/getouttamyswamp). 



> Grocery store au go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr  
> This is a gift for our lovely Alkali on the writer’s block server, their ao3 is Getouttamyswamp, go check them out, they’re pog.  
> unedited again cuz i am so lazy oops  
> Also, please have mercy i don’t know much about how grocery stores work ;-;  
> Enjoy :)

“Are you sure this is okay?” Ranboo whisper-yelled from beside Tommy. 

“Of course it is big man! We’ve done it before. As long as we don’t mess anything up too bad, it’s all good.” Tommy took out the keys from the car and opened the door. “Look, Phil and the Badlands are already here. This is going to be epic, trust me.”

Ranboo nodded, albeit slightly nervously. 

Tommy hopped out of the car, Tubbo and Purpled following suit. 

“C’mon Ranboo!” Purpled crowed. “I promise it’s super fun.”

The four boys headed over to the back entrance of the grocery store they all worked at. As Tommy had said, Phil, Sam, Ponk, Antfrost, and Punz were already all there. Karl, Quackity and Wilbur were as well.

“Finally, do you realize how freezing it is out here, gremlin child?” Wilbur said from where he was shivering beside Phil.

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Relax, big man. It’s not even that bad. You’re just a wimp.”

Before Wilbur could respond, Tommy unlocked the door and everyone filed inside. The store alarms started going off, but Tommy, who was the only one who knew the code besides the managers, put it in and the beeping stopped.

Everyone went to the break room and took off their coats, hanging them up on the hooks.

“Alright gents, you know the drill!” Tommy turned to the group and put his hands on his hips, grinning mischievously. “Who wants to seek first?”

Sam raised his hand. “I think it’s my turn.”

“Oh right!” Tommy replied. “Okay, count to one hundred. Everyone, SCATTER!”

Immediately, the whole group fled, save for Ranboo, who stood there with an extremely lost look on his face.

Sam had turned around and faced a corner, beginning the count down. “100, 99, 98, 97-”

Tubbo seemed to notice that Ranboo was still clueless as to what was going on. “Come on Ranboo! We’ve got to hide!” He ran back and grabbed Ranboo’s hand, tugging him along into the dark, empty grocery store.

It looked kind of spooky without the lights and the customers, and the soft music playing in the background.

Ranboo shivered, but then realized he could use the shadows to his advantage. If they were playing hide and seek, Ranboo had a few ideas as to how he might be able to win.

~ ~ ~

Tommy snickered from his spot on top of canned food aisle shelves. Unless someone looked up and also had really good night vision, they would never be able to see him. He was shoved up against the back of the shelf, and had arranged the cans in front of him so it was almost impossible to see him without knowing where he was. 

Tubbo suddenly turned down the aisle, looking around for somewhere to hide.

Of course, Tubbo was the only one who could find Tommy so quickly, so when he passed by Tommy’s hiding spot, he stopped and looked up.

“Tommy!” He hissed. “Where do I hide?”

Tommy groaned and rolled his eyes. “I don’t know, you’re short, go hide in like a cabinet or some shit.”

“I am  _ not _ short!” Tubbo shot back.

“Hey, being short in this game is an advantage! You can fit in any place. Now go hide in a cabinet bitch boy,” Tommy said, waving Tubbo off.

Tubbo huffed, but seemed to accept that it was the best option. He ran back the way he came and around to probably the bakery, as they had the most cabinets to hide in.

Tommy wasn’t sure how much time they had left, but he just sighed and got comfortable. He was going to win this thing.

~ ~ ~

Tubbo reached the bakery quickly and went behind the counter, heading deeper into the storing areas. He looked around, then heard a  _ pssst _ coming from the very back of the bakery.

“What the- Wilbur?” Tubbo reached the spot where the person was hiding and found Wilbur crouched behind several shelves of bread, as well as tucked behind the sink.

“Tubbo!” The tall brunet said. “Go hurry up and hide! You’re going to get me caught!”

“Seriously? I was just going to, then you distracted me by calling out!”

Wilbur waved him off. “Just go hide, small child!”

What was with people telling him to hide? He was trying to do that, wasn’t he? Sometimes Tubbo thought that his coworkers were crazy (they were).

Tubbo ducked away from Wilbur and ran around the shelves, finally coming to the counter that had rows of cabinets under them. He chose the one at the very corner that was actually a lot bigger than it looked, and held a lot of random things like bread trays and rolling pins.

Tubbo quietly moved some of the junk out of the way, then slipped in behind it. Then he pulled the stuff back in and in front of him, effectively hiding himself from view, unless you were to go digging. He closed the cabinet door and sat in the dark, stuffy box.

All that he had to do was wait now.

~ ~ ~

Ranboo heard the shout and immediately panicked.

“Ready or not, here I come!”

He was definitely not hidden at all. He was relatively new to the store and thus hadn’t memorized the best places to play hide and seek. Who did this anyway?

Currently he was standing in the middle of the produce section, looking around rather frantically for somewhere to hide his tall form.

He heard footsteps echoing across the dark store, and his eyes locked onto a really dark corner that was partially hidden by a row of shelves. With no other option left, he dove towards it and shoved himself in the tight space. 

His heart was pounding, his breaths were coming in small pants, and he willed himself to quiet down.

Sam rounded the corner and Ranboo held his breath.

The man looked around the section, before beginning to walk through the bins of fruit and vegetables. He prowled through them like a predator in search of prey, and Ranboo felt a chill go down his spine.

Suddenly, a loud  _ crunch _ filled the store.

Ranboo froze, praying it wasn’t him, but Sam didn’t even look in his direction. Instead, he zeroed in on the bin that held the grapes, walking towards it slowly.

The bins that held all the produce were set up on hollow wooden cupboards that you could open and fill with extra supplies. Most people didn’t know about it and therefore there wasn’t a real reason to lock them.

Sam crouched down and swung the cupboard open. 

Purpled blinked up at him owlishly, holding a bundle of grapes in his hand. One grape was halfway to his mouth, and Purpled shifted his gaze around innocently before popping it in, letting another loud, extremely indignant  _ crunch _ .

It was silent for another few moments, save the sounds of the grape being eaten. Ranboo’s chest ached for air, but he didn’t dare breathe just yet; Sam was right there.

Then Sam burst out laughing and held out a hand to Purpled, who took it and was helped out of the small space, his grapes still in hand.

“Really, Purpled?” Sam chuckled. “If you hadn’t started eating those grapes so loudly, I would’ve never looked here.”

Purpled shrugged apathetically and ate another grape. “I like grapes, and I was hungry.”

Sam shook his head fondly and motioned towards the break room. “Alright, well you’re the first I’ve found, so you can either tag along with me or head back to the break room with your grapes.”

“I’ll follow you for a bit, but you know the rules, I can’t help you.” Purpled dusted off his pants and walked after Sam, who had begun to make his way over to the bakery.

“Sounds good.”

The two of them turned around a corner, and Ranboo finally let out a quiet gasp, sucking in a sharp breath.

He was safe, for now at least. 

He couldn’t believe Sam had passed him by so completely. Sure, he was probably distracted by Purpled, for which Ranboo was incredibly grateful, but Ranboo was in a  _ really _ obvious spot. And yet Sam hadn’t even looked at him.

Oh well, Ranboo wasn’t going to complain.

He waited another five minutes before he heard some loud voices coming from the bakery.

“Shit, I really thought that this was a good place to hide!” Ranboo wasn’t sure who said that, but it sounded like Wilbur. 

Someone laughed, probably Sam. “Not too good. Tubbo’s was better than you, and I found him right after.”

“Well that’s ‘cause I sneezed,” presumably Tubbo said. “It was really dusty in there, and you just happened to walk by right when my nose decided to out me.”

More laughter.

So both Tubbo and Wilbur had hidden in the bakery, and Purpled was found in the produce section. That meant Ranboo, Tommy, Punz, Ponk, Antfrost, Karl, Quackity, and Phil were the ones left to be found.

A shriek split the air ten minutes later. It was high pitched and very-Tommy like. Ranboo snorted quietly, before furiously berating himself for making any noise.

“TUBBO! YOU TOTALLY GAVE ME AWAY!”

“DID NOT!” Tubbo yelled back.

Two blurry forms came around the shelves, who Ranboo identified as Tommy and Tubbo. Tommy was chasing Tubbo, who was screaming in mock-terror. They both had huge grins on their faces, though Tommy’s looked a little evil.

Sam, Wilbur, Purpled, Ponk, and Punz rounded the corner after the two teenagers, all looking about as amused or exasperated as Ranboo expected.

Ranboo shrunk back into the shadowy corner as far as he could, trying to make himself invisible. Sam hadn’t seen him the first time around, but now there were more people, and Sam wasn’t distracted by Purpled.

“Where haven’t you checked yet?” Punz asked Sam over the sounds of the now wrestling teens.

“Um, the meat section, and the cleaning products aisles.” Sam turned and began walking towards that area, the others following. Wilbur went over to Tubbo and Tommy, the former being pinned under the latter, and yanked Tommy off of Tubbo.

“Come on you two gremlins, we’re supposed to be following Sam.”

Tommy pouted, and Tubbo elbowed him, snickering. 

“But Tubbo ratted me out,” Tommy complained. 

“I did not!” Tubbo shot back.

Wilbur facepalmed and smacked them both. “Doesn’t matter, you’ve been found, Tommy. Let’s go.”

The three of them walked off in search of the group and Ranboo let out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been found yet, which still surprised him. He really was in an obvious place.

Another five minutes passed, and Ranboo assumed Antfrost had been found, because of the voices coming from the meat section, one of them sounding like Ant.

All of a sudden, the store erupted into coloured light. Disco lights turned on from where they were hanging on the roof, and Ranboo jumped at the sudden change in atmosphere.

There were a few shrieks and some laughter, before Ranboo heard malicious cackles coming from a few aisles down.

“Yoooo! It worked Karl!” Of course it would be Big Q who turned on the disco lights. Ranboo didn’t know why anyone expected any less. He’d only been working here for a week or two, and he already had figured out that Quackity was just as chaotic as Tommy and Tubbo, if not even more so.

Ranboo heard Karl cheer, before Quackity let out a loud “SHIT! RUN!” and then the sound of pattering feet.

Ranboo was pretty sure someone had found them, judging on the frantic shrieking from the two boys and the shouting that they had been found accompanying them.

A loud yelp sounded a few feet away and up from Ranboo, and his head snapped up. It came from the roof, and by using the process of elimination, Ranboo could guess who it was.

“Phil?” He whispered.

A panel of the roof slid to the side, and Phil’s face poked out. He looked around, confused for a few moments, before Ranboo moved slightly out of the shadows.

“Ranboo?” The man replied. “Mate, I didn’t even see you there, you’re practically invisible!”

“No wonder they haven't found me.” Ranboo grinned, then fixed Phil with a look. “What are you doing in the roof?”

Phil chuckled sheepishly. “Ah, nothing. Just hidin’ from Sam. I figured this would be the best place to hide, but I didn’t account for the disco lights that almost gave me a heart attack.”

Ranboo bit back a chuckle. “Yeah, that was Quackity. He and Karl turned them on, though I think they got caught because of it.”

Phil laughed.

Ranboo’s head whipped to the side when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. 

Sam and the others came around the corner  _ again _ , and Ranboo quickly ducked back into the corner, sinking into the shadows.

Phil however, was not so quick or lucky.

“Phil?!” Tommy cackled. “How did your old man bones get up there?”

Phil spluttered out a protest. “I am not old, you gremlin child! And I ‘m not telling you how I got up here because I just know how much trouble that will cause.”

Everyone laughed, and Tommy huffedd. 

“Well, how are you going to get down?” Sam asked. “Since we found you, you have to come down now.”

“I’ll manage,” Phil replied. And he did. He slipped out of the roof and hopped out onto one of the taller shelves, then clambered down expertly.

“Impressive,” Purpled said,  _ still _ munching on grapes.

“Thank you, Purpled.” Phil didn’t look in Ranboo’s direction at all, not even mentioning him. Ranboo was grateful.

“Alright, now we just need to find Ranboo,” Sam said, looking around. Ranboo tensed when his eyes swept over Ranboo’s hiding spot, but Sam kept looking.

Seriously, how blind were these people?

“I don’t think he’s in this area,” Ponk said. “Maybe back in the bakery?”

“Maybe,” Sam turned and followed Ponk, the rest of the group trailing after.

Fifteen minutes later, the whole group had split up to try and find Ranboo after having zero luck finding him with only Sam looking.

“RANBOO YOU LITTLE SHIT WHERE ARE YOU!” Tommy shouted.

Ranboo had to hold back a laugh at that. 

This went on for another ten minutes before Phil, who had been silently laughing this entire time, came forward.

“I know where he is.”

Everyone in the nearby vicinity turned to him.

“Where is he?” Sam asked.

“Can’t tell you.” Phil grinned evilly when everyone groaned. “Against the rules, mate. Sorry.”

“Phil please,” Wilbur begged. “We’re never going to be able to find him! He’s just gone!”

Phil just smiled and shook his head. “Sorry Wilbur, no can do. If he wants to come out, he can. Or maybe he just likes watching you guys suffer.”

“FUCK YOU RANBOO!” Tommy shouted again. “YOU HEAR THAT? YOU SUCK BITCH BOY!”

Ranboo just cackled silently, feeling slightly evil in that moment.

Everyone dispersed again, and Ranboo was left alone in the produce section.

An idea came to him then. Why not have a little fun fucking with everyone? He’d probably only have one chance, so he had to pick his target well.

Ranboo grinned as his mind settled on someone.

He slipped out of his hiding spot and slunk through the aisles like a shadow, making sure to stay in the darker areas and duck out of sight whenever he heard footsteps coming his way. 

He honestly surprised himself with how good at being sneaky he was. No one even headed his way at all.

Finally, Ranboo found his target.

Tommy was walking beside Tubbo, the two of them talking about something or other in loud voices. They were heading towards the deli, and Ranboo grinned before running silently over to intercept them.

When they rounded the corner and went into the deli, Ranboo followed them inside.

Tommy and Tubbo were just about to split up when Ranboo leaned over from where he was hiding in the shadows and leaned over Tommy’s shoulder.

“Boo,” he whispered.

Tommy  _ screamed _ . He jumped away and whipped around, fists at the ready, a comical look of terror on his face.

Tubbo turned around quickly to see what was wrong, but instead burst out laughing when he saw Tommy’s fear and Ranboo standing there innocently.

“What?” Ranboo asked, tilting his head.

“You little shit!” Tommy yelled. “We’ve been looking for you for hours and then you just decide to scare me like that? Who does that?!”

“Me, I guess,” Ranboo replied, smirking at Tommy’s growing frustration.

“That’s it!” Tommy lunged for Ranboo, who yelped and scrambled out of the way. Tommy ran after him, and they exited the deli, Ranboo shrieking about being murdered, Tommy running after him with a murderous intention, and Tubbo trailing behind to make sure Tommy didn’t kill Ranboo.

They dashed through the aisles in a chaotic tumble of yells and laughter. Ranboo was definitely found by now, but he ignored that fact in favour of trying not to get murdered by Tommy.

“Peace!” Ranboo shouted over his shoulder. “Please, have mercy! I’m sorry!”

“Not sorry enough, obviously!” Tommy tackled Ranboo and they went crashing to the ground. Ranboo yelled in surprise, but Tommy threw out an arm and made sure Ranboo didn’t smash his head against the floor, showing that he was indeed doing this carefully.

He pinned Ranboo to the floor, much like he had done to Tubbo earlier.

“Is this a regular occurrence for you?” Ranboo asked. “Tackling your friends to the ground as an act of revenge?”

“Maybe,” Tommy growled, his wide grin betraying his lack of ill-intent. “But they always deserve it.”

Tommy punched Ranboo lightly, before clambering off of him and helping him up. “Looks like you win big man!”   
Ranboo blinked. “What did I win again?”

Tommy gasped dramatically. “He doesn’t know what he won, oh my goodness the lack of respect is horrifying.”

Tubbo snorted. “Don’t listen to him, Ranboo. You get to choose the music for the next three days.

“Oh cool,” Ranboo replied. 

“ _ Oh cool _ , he says,” Tommy moaned sadly. “Tubbo are you hearing this blasphemy?”

Tubbo rolled his eyes. “Not everyone here is as attached to music as you are, Tommy.”

“ _ Blasphemy _ ,” Tommy said again, covering his face with his hands.

“You’ll get over it big man.” Tubbo patted his friend’s 

“I won’t.”

“What music should I choose?”

“I know!-”

“Don’t listen to Tommy, Ranboo, he’ll force you to play WAP on repeat.”

“Oh dear.”

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated <3


End file.
